The jets on my Canon i960 had become too clogged for the usual cleaning cycle to handle, so I removed the ink cartridge bay and soaked it in a solution of water and rapidograph pen cleaning fluid for a couple of hours.

I didn't measure the water-to-cleaning fluid ratio precisely, but it was roughly one cup water to one tablespoon fluid. Basically I added fluid until the solution felt slippery to the touch.

I've read other home remedy suggestions for terminally jammed heads, but none recommending the use of technical pen cleaner; it just made sense to me that a fluid designed for dissolving ink might work. Once I rinsed with water and thoroughly dried the bay, I reinstalled and my printer worked like new!

If your printer doesn't have a removable bay this approach might not work. If you're faced with the prosect of purchasing a new printer andhave nothing to lose by experimenting, try usingdilutedpen cleaneron the print heads with a q-tip.